Thoughts on Pokémon Legends: Z-A

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and does not reflect the viewpoints of Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, Game Freak, or any other entity involved with the Pokémon franchise as a whole.

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Pokémon Legends: Z-A. We don’t recommend reading this until you’ve finished the main campaign or the postgame, and please proceed at your own risk.

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After the disastrous launch of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet nearly three years ago, I was worried about the future of the mainline Pokémon games. Although the postgame expansion packs seemed to improve things, the epilogue never seemed to fix the performance issues. The following month after the epilogue released, we were treated to a trailer for the next installment in the 2024 Pokémon Day direct.

I thought Pokémon Legends: Arceus was one and done. I didn’t expect it to become a whole series. At first, I thought the game was going to be a prequel to Pokémon X and Y, like what Arceus had done with Pokémon Legends: Arceus, but when I saw later directs, I was completely wrong and learned the game is actually a sequel, taking place five years after the events of said game. That game was unveiled in February 2024, and we had to wait over a year and a half before it even released. And when it did come out this past Thursday, my expectations went over the top.

Let’s go back to this past summer. The successor to the Nintendo Switch was released, and I managed to get mine on day one, despite very high demand. When Pokémon Scarlet and Violet was tested on the console, there was one thing I was very happy about: the performance issues were finally fixed, and the game now runs at a full 60fps. That’s only if you play it on the Nintendo Switch 2. If you watch gameplay videos of the game on YouTube, the framerate tells what hardware the game is being played on. If it’s 30, it’s the original hardware. Even though I don’t plan to play it again, if you intend to play Scarlet and Violet, consider playing it on the Nintendo Switch 2 instead of the original Nintendo Switch.

I got the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition because I wanted better performance. I am opposed to having games run at 30fps, with 60 being my preference. The only times the mainline Pokémon games ran at 60 were the first three generations (the first two only had various aspects run at 60), and Generation V in part (it only applies to the battle screens). It took me four days to complete the main campaign; my brother finished it on the same day as me, only a few hours apart.

Let’s get to the starters. I don’t understand why they went with Johto’s starters with the exception of Cyndaquil because that was the Fire-type starter in Legends: Arceus (believe it or not, that was actually my starter in said game). It ended up getting replaced with Tepig, which I ultimately selected. Since Generation VI, it has become a tradition to have a new type of special move, with X and Y using Mega Evolution, which I prefer and still prefer to this day. Heck, it’s even a big point of the game’s story. I appreciated the new Mega Evolutions. Originally, trainers had to make them Mega Evolve; now they can do it on their own, thanks to Rogue Mega Evolutions!

Another thing I don’t understand is the choice of having the game as a whole be set in a city complex situated in Lumioise (Paris) and not Kalos (Northern France). It would have been better if the game’s world spanned more than just Lumoise City! That shrinking also opened the door to expanding what players couldn’t explore in Pokémon X and Y. One thing I would have preferred was having rural areas outside the city the player could explore. Nonetheless, Wild Zones were placed in for the purpose of finding wild Pokémon. We’ll have to wait until February to see what the DLC may bring.

That said, I really enjoyed playing Pokémon Legends: Z-A, and it has been a huge improvement over the previous mainline installment. Believe it or not, this is the longest time gap between the releases of two mainline entries. However, there’s one flaw I want to point out, and that is having to battle through to obtain Challenger Tickets just to advance up the Z-A Royale. I do want to mention that I got a really lucky and unexpected surprise while looking around Wild Zone 12 as mentioned in the image above.